1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safeties that are incorporated into pellet or air rifles of the type which prevents the accidental firing of the rifle even when it is loaded. More particularly, the present invention relates to safeties which must be removed in order to fire a shot from the rifle. Additionally, the present invention relates to safeties that have a loading pull lever that is geometrically modified so that at the time of starting to load the rifle, it is impossible to introduce a finger anywhere near the trigger since the lever is placed in front of the trigger so as to prevent the firing of the rifle until the pull lever has been fully depressed.
2. Description of Related Art
Sporting pellet rifles are regularly used to introduce young and teenage boys to the sport of target shooting. This type of rifle is produced with a mechanism which has a piston to compress air. The mechanism is recharged by means of a pull lever placed underneath the rifle and generally close to where the trigger is located.
There are several instances in the past in which the lack of knowledge or ignorance of the rifle""s firing mechanism has caused minor accidents to the user, particularly these affecting the fingers and the hands. This is due to the confidence of the user and due to attempts to investigate what has happened when the rifle is in a different position than normal.
In order to avoid this problem, several inventions have been developed in the past. These inventions include modifications in the way in which the rifle is reloaded, such as by significantly altering the design of the reloader by placing it on the top of the rifle. However, for the sporting pellet and air rifles in which the loading lever is located underneath the trigger, no improvement has been made to allow it to be safe.
Improved safeties for sporting pellet or air rifles are described in various U.S. patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,164,646, 1,509,257, 3,465,741, 3,839,999, 5,596,976 and 5,666,753. These patents include safety mechanisms with automatic safety means which lock crossbow triggers so as to prevent unintentional shooting. None of these patents relate to the structure of the present invention.
It is an object of the present invention to have a manual safety placed on a sporting pellet rifle which prevents the firing of the gun even when it is loaded.
Another objective of this invention is to provide a modified loading pull lever which prevents the placement of a finger on the trigger before it is totally depressed.
Another object of the present invention is to prevent an accident to the user when moving the loading pull lever by preventing such user from placing his or her fingers on the trigger even when the gun is prepared for firing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sporting pellet rifle which possesses safety mechanisms which minimize any chance of accident due to improper handling.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sporting pellet rifle which complies with safety standards and rules of various governmental authorities.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gun which remains safe even when the pull lever is moved to its stop.